Lomography Gallery Store Los Angeles

Store History

Founded:
1992

Founded by:
Wolfgang Stranzinger, Matthias Fiegl and Sally Bibawy

Headquarters:
Vienna, Austria

We recently had the opportunity to drop into the world's largest Lomography store on the planet, a retail pantheon dedicated to the product and art of analogue photography goods offered by the company that helped kick off the resurgence of retro-styled photographic imagery before there the likes of Hipstamatic, Toy Camera, or any of the myriad digital camera copycats out there. The Lomographic trend began as a resurgent homage to the Russian Lomo Kompakt Automat, an unpredictable image producing film camera which quickly became a retro hit once Lomography began producing them again back in 1991.

Now Lomography offers a wide assortment of cameras and lens kits that range from toy-like to more serious shutterbug options. The West Hollywood 2-story gallery plus retail shop is where you want to drop in if you're either new to the technology or a seasoned Lomo junkie (arguably the perfect shop to drop in for gift ideas for the tech lover in your life).

We were actually at the Lomography Gallery Store Los Angeles to attend a Creative Mornings presentation about the history of the brand and store, but stayed around long afterward to wander amongst the showcase of product and take in the 17,000 image LomoWall, sorted by colour and subject matter (our favorite section was the animal photos, of course). This flagship location isn't just the largest Lomography retail shop, but also the first to offer film processing of the 50+ film varieties sold and supported by the shop. Lomographically passionate photographers can also learn more about their specific camera with informative tips and tricks weekly workshops held at the shop, alongside more fun events like photographic scavenger hunts.

We've got our eyes now on a Diana F+ Colette and Diana Instant Back+ kit to work with Fuji Instax Mini film, in a sense, a sort of precursor to digital film's instant gratification appeal. Other fun photographic options include the head-spinning, 360 degree view Lomography Spinner 360° and the quite beautiful limited edition LOMO LC-A+ White Special Edition (almost nice enough to woo us back to film). Ironically, photos don't do these products justice, and seeing and handing these product in person at the Lomography Gallery Store Los Angeles can quickly convert you from simply curious to fully equipped in a single visit, so be forewarned!